Scorpions Drop Pair of Matches, 3-0, to NCAA Division II Opponents at Border Olympics
Posted September 4, 2008
LAREDO -- The UTB/TSC women's volleyball team continued its early season struggles at the Border Olympics Collegiate Volleyball Tournament Friday, September 5, dropping its first two matches by identical 3-0 scores to NCAA Division II opponents.

Host Texas A&M International University downed the Scorpions, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19, before Tarleton State University downed the Scorpions, 25-10, 25-9, 25-11.

"The second set against TAMIU was a winnable game that we probably should have taken," Scorpion head coach John Barnes said.  "'Against Tarleton, we didn't have the height to match up against them. Tarleton's big and tall, and they hit the ball well."

The Scorpions are one of four teams in the tournament that includes TAMIU, Tarleton State University and NCAA Division I member University of North Dakota.

UTB/TSC will face North Dakota at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Scorpions will still be without their All-American middle blocker Talita Milasauskas, who is rehabilitating a shoulder injury. "We're going to have matchup problems with North Dakota, because they're big too," Barnes said. "We're going to focus on the backline defense."

After the weekend tournament, the Scorpions will be home to face the University of St. Thomas Saturday, September 13, at the Manuel Garza B. Gymnasium. "We're trying to focus on the good things we're doing. We can try to fix everything before we start playing conference matches in October."

TAMIU 3, Scorpions 0

In the first match against TAMIU, the Scorpions had a chance to win the second set, but fell, 25-23.

Senior captain Katie Japp led the Scorpions with 11 kills. Junior setter Chelsea Spadaro had 20 assists, freshman libero Anayeli Trevino had 16 digs, and sophomore Jacque Touchet had two solo blocks and two assisted blocks.

Tarleton State 3, Scorpions 0

Tarleton State had an incredible .457 hitting percentage against the Scorpions, converting on 39 kills on 70 attempts with only seven errors. UTB/TSC had 16 kills with 17 errors.

Japp had six kills and Spadaro 12 assists for the Scorpions.